Longoria Collection

Over the last couple of years, I have been enthusiastically building a player collection of Evan Longoria cards. Longoria is the superstar third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays and the face and centerpiece of the franchise. He was the #3 overall pick in the 2006 MLB draft out of Long Beach State, and dominated the Minor Leagues in 2006 and 2007 with stops in Hudson Valley (Short-Season Single-A), Visalia (Advanced Single-A), Montgomery (Double-A), and my local and favorite Minor League team, the Durham Bulls (Triple-A). He led the Montgomery Biscuits to their first Southern League Championship a few months after being drafted in 2006, and was named that league’s MVP in 2007.

Longoria made his Major League debut shortly after the 2008 season began, and after less than a week in the majors, the Rays locked the rookie up with a 9-year contract (including three option years). It seemed like a risky move at the time, but it began to pay off almost immediately as Longoria quickly emerged as a star hitter and defender at the hot corner. It was enough to be named to the American League All Star team as a rookie, being voted in on mlb.com’s “Final Vote”. He participated in the Home Run Derby too. Longoria maintained his strong performance the rest of the year despite missing more than a month with a wrist injury during the heat of the pennant race. He hit .272-.343-.531 with 27 home runs and 85 RBI for the season in 122 games. It was enough to be named the 2008 American League Rookie of the Year and the 2008 “Hobby’s Rookie of the Year” by Upper Deck. Longoria’s amazing rookie year continued with a historic post-season when he broke the rookie record with 6 post-season home runs, leading the Rays to wins over the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox to reach their first ever World Series.

Longoria followed it up with an even better season in 2009. He improved his batting line to .281-.364-.526 with 33 home runs and 113 RBI in 157 games, despite his performance being hampered by a hamstring injury for several months. He was voted in as the starting third baseman for the American League All Star team, and received a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award for the first time after the season. Unfortunately the Rays were kept out of the postseason by their wealthy division rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, who took advantage of their lopsided financial advantages and MLB’s unfair revenue distribution that favors a select few teams, to spend obscene amounts of money luring several star players away from other teams.

Despite having the disadvantage of playing in the American League East, the Rays are poised to have another outstanding season in 2010 and return to the World Series. They will be led once again by Evan Longoria, who should continue to improve and reach further levels of baseball stardom.

I actively try to collect as many Evan Longoria cards as I can. I currently own 612 different Longoria cards, including 93 autographs. Due to Evan Longoria’s status as one of the brightest young stars in baseball, he was included on the checklist of every 2009 baseball card product, with a very high number of inserts, parallels, game-used relics, and autograph cards produced. This trend should continue in 2010 and the coming years, making it more and more challenging to be an Evan Longoria collector…

If you have any Evan Longoria cards that I don’t have that you’re willing to sell or trade, please contact me to see if we can work out a deal!

Finally, here is the true centerpiece of my Evan Longoria collection:

Meet my autographed, game-used Evan Longoria Durham Bulls jersey. I got this at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on August 31, 2007. The Bulls usually have a few games a year where they auction off the jerseys that the players wore in the game to benefit a charity. The players autograph the jerseys too. I bought a Joey Gathright autographed game-used jersey in 2004. He was a huge prospect at the time, and he was one of my favorite players, but he still hasn’t become a star in the major leagues, and he probably never will. Anyway, I didn’t get another one after that until 2007. I didn’t want a jersey from a mediocre player, and I saw B.J. Upton and Delmon Young jerseys go for up to $500 when they were auctioned off. That was out of my price range.

Anyway, at the game on August 31, 2007 against the Charlotte Knights, they announced that the jerseys worn that day would be auctioned off. They didn’t announce this ahead of time on their web site, like they normally do, and I suspect that’s the reason why the really big spenders weren’t there. This wasn’t long after Evan Longoria had been promoted to Durham from Double-A. After watching Longoria hit a towering home run (the 5th of his Triple-A career) in the 3rd inning off of Lance Broadway, I wandered over to the table where the bidding was taking place. I entered a bid, and walked back over there when the bids were being finalized. I ended up winning, and I got the jersey for less than I was expecting, just $240. The guy who was taking the bids was shocked that it went for such a low amount, and he told me that a Longoria jersey had sold for $1000 a couple of weeks before that. I was very, very happy. I picked up my new prized possession in the Bulls offices after the game ended and saw that beautiful Longoria signature on the Bulls logo patch for the first time. I bought a frame for it a couple of months later, and it’s currently hanging up in the bonus room at my house.

Due to Evan Longoria’s phenomenal first two seasons and his newfound fame, I’d estimate that I could get somewhere around $2000 on eBay if I wanted to sell the jersey now. I imagine that it’ll only go up in value if he continues to fulfill his vast potential throughout his career. I don’t know if I’ll ever sell it, since I’m a huge Evan Longoria fan, and I love owning this jersey. However, if it becomes valuable enough to pay for my kids’ college education someday, it sure would be tempting to sell it…

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Mario, there are scans of a bunch of the cards scattered throughout different posts that I’ve done in the past. Maybe if the time fairy changes the amount of hours in my days to 48 instead of 24, I’ll be able to scan every one of them someday 🙂

Hey, Dave. I’ve been reading your blog and it’s really cool. If your interested, i have a Just Minors, Justifiable 2006 Longoria auto from when he was in AA. If you have any Phillies that you are willing to trade, please e-mail me.
Thanks.

Dave, I will be adding a Joe Mauer section to our blog over at Sac Bunt soon. Since I only have about 60 I’m going to try to scan all of them in. Keep track of your Twinkies cards for now, because I’ll be sending any Longoria cards I have right over to you!

Hey I currently have an Evan Longoria Topps Allen and Ginter 2008 Yellow printing Plate on ebay. It’s the printing plate to the mini card that I saw on your blog. You should check it out and maybe think about adding it to your collection.

Very nice Longoria collection. It seems he has a chance to be one of the great ones. I have recently bought a small collection that included three printing plates from the 2006 bowman originals set (magenta, cyan, and yellow). If anyone sees or hears of the black plate I would be very interested in buying or trading for it. If anyone is interested in the three that I have, drop me a line. The cyan plate has been autographed by Evan. (jhassell72@yahoo.com)

Ohh a great collection!!! I collect Evan Longoria, Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken Jr. !!! I have the Bowman Sterling jersey and auto 2007 1/199 and refracor is the first!!! I have a RC use bat, shirt and ball auto of Evan Longoria with COA!!! Thanks for the list i see more cards that i am thinked !!!

hello
wondering if anyone could help. i have a card (not for sale) just wondering what its book value is. 2007 evan longoria bowman sterling prospect REFRACTOR, authentic game worn jersey, autographed, 03/25. the card is black and silver. If anyone could help please email me
thanks

I am blown away by how many Longoria cards are available. He is a super third baseman no doubt. I can only image how big your collection will be by the time he retires. Your dedication to player colletions (Longoria and Mattingly) is truly amazing!